Pie It Forward: Pies, Tarts, Tortes, Galettes, and Other Pastries Reinvented is for anyone who has ever had a craving for pie and decided that they just didn’t want to put in the time and effort to make one. After reading through this cookbook, you’ll realize that you will never regret taking a little bit of time away from some other activity to bake a pie because pies – whether they’re creamy, chocolaty, savory or packed with fruit – are just about the perfect food and should be enjoyed a lot more often than they are!

This is a fun book that is easy to read through, full of tempting recipes that will give you a pie craving even if you didn’t start out with one. The author, Gesine Bullock-Prado, does an excellent job explaining all the steps of pie-making in a familiar, clear voice that makes it seems as though a good friend is walking you through the process. It’s easy to get comfortable with the instructions in this book, and that will give a lot of confidence to any bakers who have had less-than-perfect pie experiences or simply don’t have that much experience with pies. For more experienced pie bakers, it is worth noting that this isn’t a book for beginners when it comes to the range of recipes presented. There is a lot of variety and plenty of creative filling options to keep you inspired, too.

The book is divided into a few main chapters – The Basics, The Sweets, The Savories and Pie it Forward – but each chapter is subdivided into different sections to keep the recipes organized and easy to reference. There is a good mix of classic and complex recipes, as well as recipes for tarts, miniature pies, hand pies and other types of pie to provide variety and keep the book interesting. The photos are stunning, and are almost as likely to inspire you to buy a new array of tart shells, pie plates and pie servers as they are to inspire you to start baking as you read through it.